full title
· The Sun Also Rises
author
· Ernest Hemingway
type of work
· Novel
genre
· Modernist novel; travelogue; novel of disillusionment
language
· English
time and place written
· Mid-1920s, Paris
date of first publication
· 1926
publisher
· Charles Scribner’s Sons
narrator
· Jake Barnes
point of view
· Jake tells the entire story from his own point of view.
tone
· Somber, detached, ironic, nostalgic
tense
· Past
setting (time)
· 1924
setting (place)
· The novel begins in Paris, France, moves to Pamplona,
Spain, and concludes in Madrid, Spain.
protagonist
· Jake
major conflict
· Jake is in love with Lady Brett Ashley, but they cannot
maintain a relationship because he was rendered impotent by a war
wound. Jake loses numerous friendships and has his life repeatedly disrupted
because of his loyalty to Brett, who has a destructive series of
love affairs with other men.
rising action
· Jake, Brett, and their friends pursue a dissipated
life in Paris; Jake introduces Brett to Robert Cohn; Brett and Cohn
have an affair; Cohn follows Brett to Pamplona.
climax
· The jilted Cohn beats up Mike and Jake, and afterward Pedro Romero.
falling action
· Jake and his friends leave Spain; Jake enjoys the solitude
of San Sebastian; Brett wires Jake to rescue her in Madrid after
forcing Romero to leave her.
themes
· The aimlessness of the Lost Generation; male insecurity;
the destructiveness of sex
motifs
· The failure of communication; excessive drinking; false friendships
symbols
· Bullfighting
foreshadowing
· The behavior of the bulls repeatedly foreshadows the
actions of the people in the novel.
